McConnell: President Obama is Asking for Too Much in Fiscal Cliff Deal

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said he hopes a deal can be hatched to avoid the fiscal cliff, but that talks so far have not gone well.

McConnell said President Barack Obama is asking for a new stimulus package -- the unlimited ability to raise the debt ceiling and more than $1 trillion in new tax revenues.

And those proposals are not something Republicans want to concede, McConnell said.

Still, McConnell said he's hopeful a deal can be reached to avert the tax increases and large budget reductions scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1.

“Well I sure hope so, unfortunately the private talks that the speaker and I have been privy too are not that different from the public talk,” McConnell said.

And those are proposals the GOP aren’t willing to give on.

“That sort of thing is not going to be given to him and so it’s not very encouraging at the moment I can tell you,” McConnell said.

McConnell says he’d like to see entitlement reforms in any deal.

President Obama has been adamant that any deal involve higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. It's something Mr. Obama campaigned on during his recent re-election effort, and the President and his supporters point to his relatively easy victory over Mitt Romney as proof most Americans support the administration's positions on tax rates.